Finally, I can pull for Jake Delhomme.
No, I don’t have any great love for the Houston Texans.
The Saints did have a frustrating loss to them in 2007, but they returned the favor in week three of this year, so we’re cool again.
Plus, it’s not about the Texans. They’re an AFC team. So unless they’re playing against my wife’s Denver Broncos, I rarely have any problems with the Texans winning.
I typically pull for teams that have never really had much success anyway.
I’m a team guy. So whether it’s one of my favorite players to cover, like Jake, or a close relative of mine, it’s about the Saints for me.
So when Delhomme was acquired by the Carolina Panthers in 2003, he unfortunately went to one of the Saints’ prime enemies.
There still are very few former area high school stars, if any really, that I’d rather talk football with than Jake Delhomme.
I still very much remember him at Teurlings — both as a football player and as a basketball player. In football, I’ll always remember pushing for him to make the All-State team. He was going up against an Evangel quarterback named Josh Booty that everyone in the state was convinced was an All-American football stud.
Fortunately, Delhomme was just a clutch athlete that he had played just enough defensive back that year and actually had something like eight or nine interceptions, including several to win games.
As a basketball player, you could really see his competitiveness and crazy facial expressions, because there’s no helmet in the way.
After high school, he proved everything that those of us who covered him in high school saw -— that he was a gamer. He had a tremendous career at UL.
While just about every NFL team didn’t give him a chance, fortunately the New Orleans Saints did. He got that first big opportunity during the Christmas holidays in 1999 and beat Dallas 31-24 on Christmas Eve.
After backing up Aaron Brooks for several years, it was time for Jake to break away as a starter somewhere else. Unfortunately for me, that big chance came in Carolina.
While many jumped ship on the Saints to support Jake, it just wasn’t in me to do. As much as I always liked him and still do on the rare chances we get to visit, I was living and dying with Saints years before Jake was even born.
So hopefully he learns the new system well and hopefully the Texans win enough games to get to postseason play.
So for the first time, I’ll be able to root for Jake in a playoff game.
It’ll be fun.
